Baking up a New Adventure! (A Cookie Run: Kingdom Story)

Part 3: The Questioning

"Gah!" I gasped as I was knocked on my side. "Wh-wha-?"

A cookie reached out their hand to help me to my feet.

"Sorry about that," They apologized as I dusted myself off. "I just had to get you away from the others for a bit."

It was then that I got my first good look at my attacker. She had her golden brown hair tied back in a ponytail, she wore goggles on her head, she wore a black tank top, brown gloves, heavy duty green jeans, and a brown fanny pack around her waist.

"Who--?" I started to ask.

"The name's Croissant Cookie," She explained. "I work for the TBD. We detected a divergence in the timeline that started right when you arrived. We have no doubt you're behind it."

"I-I'm not here to cause trouble," I assured her. "My portal gun malfunctioned—I was thrown off course. I was sent here by accident! I'm sorry if I caused any problems with the timeline, but once I get back to where I was supposed to go, I'll be out of your hair!"

"Well, the timeline has already been altered, there's no undoing that," She assured me. "I just have to ask you a few questions and then you can be on your way."

"Uhh, okay," I agreed.

"First question: What are your intentions with this timeline?" Croissant Cookie asked me.

"I-Intentions?" I pressed.

"Yes," Croissant Cookie nodded. "What do you plan to do while you're here?"

"Well, right now, I'm just trying to find a way home," I explained. "But if I decided to come back, I'd probably just join these cookies on their new adventures!"

"What types of adventures?" Croissant Cookie wondered.

"I dunno, battling against Dark Enchantress's forces, just traveling around the world, setting sail, searching for treasure, whatever it is they're up to when I return," I explained.

"I see..." Croissant nodded as she took out a notepad and jotted all of that down. "Well, normally I have this whole list of questions I have to go through whenever something like this happens, but you seem like a genuinely nice person, so I'll let you go."

"Oh, okay, err, nice meeting you, Croissant Cookie!" I smiled as she turned to leave.

"Maybe we could work together sometime," She decided. "The TBD could always use an extra hand keeping the timelines intact."

"Certainly!" I exclaimed.

"I'll keep you in mind, then," She told me, and with that, she disappeared into the forest.

"Glacier Mage!" Gingerbrave hollered. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh!" I gasped as I pushed my way through the trees and out of the forest. "Err... hi! I'm right here! Sorry about that, I guess I got distracted and lost the path."

"It's alright, we're glad you found your way back," Gingerbrave assured me. "We were really worried about you for a minute there. Anyways, we gathered up a new team, and we're ready to set out to Pilgrim's Village."

"Okay, let's go then!" I decided.

And so, Gingerbrave and I, as well as our new team consisting of Rye Cookie, Princess Cookie, and Raspberry Cookie, headed back through the forest to Pilgrim's Path. Surprisingly, we didn't run into any trouble with cake hounds or other non-cookie creatures... that is, until we set foot on the desert path.

"Boss!" A Ginkgoblin called as he saw us approaching from his perch on the sandy rocks. "There's a group of five cookies approaching."

"Not again..." Another Ginkgoblin sighed. "We have to defend our turf! Get into formation!"